Teachers

She was a popular teacher, known for working past midnight on school projects and being a compassionate ally to her students. He was one of the special ones: a sixth-grader with whom she had recognized a kindred spirit when he entered her class, talented and intense.

A Los Angeles high school science teacher returned to the classroom Friday two months after being suspended over concerns that two students had assembled "dangerous" science projects under his supervision. Both projects overseen by teacher Greg Schiller were capable of launching small objects. A staff member at the downtown Cortines School of Visual & Performing Arts had raised concerns about one of them. Both are common in science fairs. "I am very excited to be back with my students and help them prepare for the Advanced Placement tests, which are a week away," Schiller said Thursday.

Shannon Wright, who shielded a sixth-grade pupil from gunfire and was fatally wounded as a result, was remembered Saturday as a hero as the final victims of Tuesday's shooting spree at Westside Middle School were laid to rest. The 32-year-old teacher, who leaves behind a husband and a 2-year-old son, was memorialized at a jammed church service just five miles from the scene of the bloody schoolyard ambush that claimed the lives of Wright and four young girls and injured 10 others.

The Los Angeles Unified School District does not need to release the names of teachers in connection with their performance ratings, according to a tentative court ruling issued Thursday. A three-judge state appellate court panel tentatively found a stronger public interest in keeping the names confidential than in publicly releasing them. Disclosure would not serve the public interest in monitoring the district's performance as much as it would affect the recruitment and retention of good instructors and other issues, the ruling said.

We'll call this one Cupid because, with his golden curls and wide-eyed cherubic face, it seems like a decent handle. He's 26, fresh out of the military and, despite his Abercrombie good looks, he tends to panic when he talks to girls. "I'm totally an introvert," he says early on a Friday evening. But now it's into the wee hours of Saturday morning and he's at the Saddle Ranch on the Sunset Strip.

A poll of public school teachers finds that on average, high school students are assigned 3.5 hours of homework per weeknight, or more than 17 hours a week. Or that's the teachers' perspective, anyway. If that's how it actually plays out, it strikes me as too much by far. I'm no homework-denier. When you look at the research , it's clear that homework, at least at the high school level, contributes to higher achievement. But I'm also in the camp that says kids, including teenagers, need well-balanced lives that include extracurricular activities, outside pursuits, physical activity, fun with friends and family, and just hanging around accomplishing nothing.

On Sunday, The Times made public a database of "value-added" ratings for about 6,000 Los Angeles Unified School District teachers. Rankings from "least effective" to "most effective" were assigned to teachers based on an analysis of whether they consistently raised or lowered their students' scores on standardized tests. Teachers were allowed to review their scores in advance and post comments if they wished. We have excerpted some teachers' responses below. Their full comments and those of other teachers can be found on our searchable database at projects.

You and the teacher "study" (Feb. 9) add insult to educational injury by insinuating that "smarter teachers" leave teaching. Perhaps smarter teachers believe they are performing a noble and needed job, regardless of the obstacles. Where would we all be if "Jesus left teaching to sell Coca-Cola"? (Add the corporate entity of your choice.) ILA HIRSCH Los Angeles

Later this month, The Times will post on its website a database with ratings for more than 6,000 elementary school teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District, showing their effectiveness in the classroom as estimated by a "value-added" analysis of student test scores. If you taught in Grades 3, 4 or 5 in L.A. Unified at some point during school years 2002-03 through 2008-09, and had at least 60 students total during that period, you may be in the database. We'd like to give you an opportunity to comment on your rating.

Re "School policymakers face a test of their own," March 4 The controversy over the use of standardized tests for evaluation purposes is the result of the assumption that those tests currently in widespread use are capable of differentiating between effective and ineffective teachers. Contrary to popular belief, there is no evidence to support the belief that valid inferences can be made in this regard. That's why educators are so strongly opposed, not because they want to avoid accountability.

The Los Angeles Unified School District does not need to release the names of teachers in connection with their performance ratings, according to a tentative court ruling issued Thursday. A three-judge state appellate court panel tentatively found a stronger public interest in keeping the names confidential than publicly releasing them. Disclosure would not serve the public interest in monitoring the district's performance as much as it would affect the recruitment and retention of good instructors and other issues, the ruling said.

Based on the 2011 Cameron Diaz film of the same name, "Bad Teacher" is something of a novelty on CBS, a single-camera comedy in a sea of old-fashioned multicamera, feel-the-hilarity sitcoms like "The Big Bang Theory," "Two Broke Girls" and "Mike & Molly. " ("The Crazy Ones," whose time slot "Bad Teacher" will occupy, cracked that mold this season but did not break it.) Nevertheless, and for all the studied outrageousness of its model, it tells a now-familiar, deceptively sweet tale of the unruly force that brings its own kind of order and relief.

A Los Angeles high school science teacher is returning to the classroom two months after being suspended over concerns that two students had assembled "dangerous" science projects under his supervision. Both projects overseen by teacher Greg Schiller were capable of launching small objects. A staff member at the downtown Cortines School of Visual & Performing Arts had raised concerns about one of them. Both are common in science fairs. "I am very excited to be back with my students and help them prepare for the Advanced Placement tests, which are a week away," Schiller said Thursday.

Tumultuous marriages, father-son relationships and film censorship are just three of the themes explored in the 12 Iranian films featured at this year's UCLA Celebration of Iranian Cinema. Beginning Thursday, the series will show the films at the Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer Museum in Westwood Village through May 14. Four of the screenings will be accompanied by Q&As with the movies' directors. Iranian cinema is "one of the most exciting on Earth," said Paul Malcolm, programmer at UCLA's Film & Television Archive, which presents more than 200 professionally curated public screenings each year.

Faced with the threat of a ballot initiative on teacher firings that could have placed it in the awkward position of publicly defending child molesters, the California Teachers Assn. agreed to a compromise: legislation to streamline the appeals process for teachers who are accused of such egregious misconduct. The procedures outlined in the bill strike the right balance of providing teachers with due process to ensure that they have not been fired unfairly, while speeding up the process and making it far simpler and less expensive.

Joe Zeccola's classroom at Santee Education Complex is crammed full with 43 desks. When class is in session, students occupy every seat. That's the problem, said Zeccola, who teaches freshman English at the secondary school near downtown Los Angeles. Large classes are not conducive to student success. "Unless you're going to give me rollerskates and amphetamines, I don't know how I'm supposed to reach 43 students and add one-on-one interaction," he said. "It's not possible. When they [students]

Re "All schools should have good teachers," Editorial, April 14 In response to your editorial on the effects that seniority layoff rules might have on Los Angeles Unified School District campuses with high numbers of new teachers, I would like to cite my own experience. I came to LAUSD in 2007 to work at the new West Adams Preparatory High School, losing the seniority I had accrued in other districts. Starting in the 2010-11 school year, I had to undergo the ordeal of watching the campus on which I was a founding faculty member be torn apart by layoffs.

Authorities in Yucaipa have arrested a high school Spanish teacher on suspicion of having sex with a 16-year-old student, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department. An administrator at Yucaipa High School told deputies Wednesday about a possible inappropriate relationship between the male student and Sheila Heacock, 44. The next day, detectives contacted the teen, who told them the alleged sexual abuse had occurred between January and March of this year. Heacock, an 18-year veteran of the school district, was arrested and booked on one felony count each of oral copulation with a minor, penetration by a foreign object with a minor, contact with a minor to commit an offense, and unlawful sexual intercourse.